same difference
by kidishcaresh
Summary: When we reached it a car drove by and Zuko jumped back and fell backward on his butt.“WHAAAA! Wwhat the hell was that!” he screamed staring with big eyes to the now empty road.
1. Chapter 1

**AU-ness ness ness ness. Just read it and let me know what you think...or leave now. Oh yeah the present time-line or our world time-line is in 2001 and the house we're in is styled after my own house. For the record my OC's character is based off of myself and a friend. The other OC who is a computer wizzkid is in reality my cousin and in case someone wonders everything else is made up.**

**Warnings: some of the senarios I'm using have truely happened. I should know they happened to me. Classmate tormenting is still a major problem in all school levels. It can go really far. Dutch authoress Carry Slee wrote the book 'Regret' (dutch title: spijt). A book about a case where the kid that got tormented ended up killing himself because of the tormenting he endure daily.**

**Disclaimer: Sadly enough I do not own avatar and I do not make any money off of this or any other story I wrote; if I did make money of it there would be at least ten new chapters uploaded each week, but since you don't see my stories finish with a month's time I do not make money off of it. I do own Kimiko and my other OC's isn't that wonderful? No? Oh well I think it is.**

**Summary: I looked at Kimiko who looked hurt at the comment but said nothing. I decided to follow her example and ignored them asking Kimiko to tell me that one story again that I liked so much. Kimiko's face brightened and she started to tell again until...**

"**speak"**

'**think'**

**/memory/**

**Chapter 1,**

**starting from Zuko POV**

"Ungh, wha-what happened?" I mumbled rubbing my sore head. No one answered the question. Not like I expected anyone to or anything. After all uncle was now in jail and Azula doesn't come near me not after I blew up on her a day ago. I look around but everything is dark. Carefully I get up and move only to trip over something big and fall flat on my face a second later.

"Ow, damnit why is it so dark in here?" I yell angrily at the empty darkness.

"Cuz the light's off smartass." a voice answers. I jump slightly in shock since I didn't expect a reply. I hear a click and suddenly it seem like the place is on fire and I shield my face from the glare of whatever is emitting this much light. Once my eyes get used to it I look around and find that I'm sitting amidst a fairly sized room filled to the brink with junk, most of which I've got no idea of what it could be. I get up and make my way over to the only corner that seems to be clutter free. A bed is stationed in it and a small desk. A closet devides it from the clutter in the rest of the room and beside the closet there seems to be a path leading upto a pair of legs and...

'Whoa rewind! A-a pair of legs!?' I follow the legs upto a torso covered in a too big white t-shirt, a female head with dark unruly hair and a pair of ruby eyes follows. The girl is about two or three years younger then me by the looks of it and she's fiddling around with a large wooden club. Subconsciously I gulp a little at the fact that her large t-shirt left little to the imagination because it hung off one shoulder and revealed more of her chest then I'm comfortable with.

"So...What are you doing here?" the girl, asked all the while she had a calm yet amused look.

"W-well eh..." I started.

'Oh great, I'm stuttering. Get a hold of yourself and show some dignity your a prince of the firenation for crying out loud! Act your age! On second thought don't.' I was beginning to think that I might have hit my head pretty hard there. I was talking to myself now. I swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

"I...seem to be lost." I said tearing my eyes off of the girl instead I looked at what was around me.

"Really now? So where were you before you got lost here?" the girl asked almost laughing as she leaned against a wooden support beam of some kind the bat now resting on her shoulder.

"Eh, Ba Sing Se." I said looking away again.

"And that can be found where?" she asked again. I raised an eyebrow at her.

'Has she lost her mind? Everyone knows where Ba Sing Se is!' I shook my head and looked away yet again.

"Earth kingdom." I muttered. My head hurt and this woman was mocking me with her questions and I was letting her do that too. I just wanted to lay down and sleep. The girl shook her head.

"Okay, well I've never heard of an earthkingdom before. Nice try though. So are you going to come with me on your own accord or do I have to make you?" the girl said pushing away from the beam and getting ready to cause serious damage with her bat. I wasn't about to let her tell me what to do so I got ready to give her a portion of my mind when she came at me and swung the bat. I threw a fireball at her...or at least I intended to do that but found that there was no fire coming out of my hand nor did I get the feeling that my inner flame gave when I bended fire.

"What the-" I mumbeled then everything went black.

**??? POV**

I was awoken by a loud bang and sat up. Something moved on the other end of my room between the junk that my 'parents' gathered there. I lay back down thinking it was Mausy the mouse living in my attic until I heard a voice mutter softly. Slightly nervous I grabbed the bat next to my bed and got up I moved to my lightswitch when I heard another bang.

"Ow, damnit why is it so dark in here?" a voice yelled angrily at the empty darkness.

"Cuz the light's off smartass." I answer managing despite my fear to keep my voice even. I heard the owner of the voice jump slightly in shock apparently he didn't expect a reply. I flick the switch to turn on the light. There sitting on the rubble was a black/brown haired boy he was shielding his face from the glare of the light. Once his eyes got used to it he looked around and found himself sitting amidst the junk. He looked at it like he's seeing these kind of things for the first time. Then he got up and made his way over to the only corner that seemed to be clutter free, which is where my bed is stationed along with my small desk. He looked at closet that devided the space with my bed and desk from the clutter in the rest of the room and he followed the path leading to me with his eyes. When his eyes reached my bare legs he stopped then shock registered on his face and he continued to follow his original path until he looked straight at me. He seemed to get very nervous though as he looked up. I knew why that was, I was only wearing my old three sizes to big white shirt that hung off my shoulder and gave him a nice view. His nervousness put me at ease though because I knew that he wasn't planning to hurt me anytime soon or he wouldn't be so nervous suddenly.

"So...What are you doing here?" I asked amused at the way his eyes went everywhere in the room but always returned to me.

"W-well eh..." he started but trailed off. After a while he swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

"I... seem to be lost." he said once again tearing his eyes off of me and instead looking at what was around him.

"Really now? So where were you before you got lost here?" I asked almost laughing as I leaned against a wooden support beam that held my staircase together, putting the bat against my shoulder ready to strike if need be.

"Eh, Ba Sing Se." the boy said not looking at me.

"And that can be found where?" I asked again. He raised an eyebrow at me in confusion.

"Earth kingdom." he muttered. I shook my head in wonder he sure was creative.

"Okay, well I've never heard of an earthkingdom before. Nice try though. So are you going to come with me on your own accord or do I have to make you?" I said pushing away from the beam and getting ready to cause serious damage with my trusty bat. He didn look like he was about to come without a fight so I ran at him and swung the bat. The boy raised his hand palm out at me as if he expected something to come shooting out of it. Shock was written on his face when he noticed nothing happened. I'd already swung and couldn't stop the force of the bat enough not to cause damage.

"What the-" the boy mumbeled then he fell back and the area between his right eye and cheek turned blue. Shocked by his reaction and not being able to pull back on time I fell to my knees beside his prone body and checked for his pulse out of shock. He had a pulse but was unconscious now so I moved him in the right position thanking the stars that I'd just covered that with health-class. I then pulled my phone out of my pants pocket and checked the time 2:01. I set my timer for 15 minutes if he didn't wake up by then I'd call the doctor.

The next day 

I sat by my own bed currently taken up by the boy I'd knocked out earlier this morning. The doctor said he seemed to be okay other then being unconscious and having a bruised cheek from my hitting him, he woke up shortly after the doctor arrived and fell asleep some twenty minutes later. My phone beeped and I shook the boy.

"Ugnh wha?" he asked. I sighed and went over the list again once he answered my questions I let him sleep again. Half an hour later I went down and made breakfast for us both before heading back while talking with the principal on the phone.

"No...yes...I understand...I will...Thanks for understanding...bye sir." I said before hanging up knowing I'd have the next four days off to tend to my new housemate. Luckily my 'parents' weren't home. When I got back up stairs he was sitting up and looking around apparently deep in thought.

"Here you must be hungry." I said handing him a plate of bread.

"Thanks." he said eating slowly due to the bruise hurting when he ate or talked. We ate in silence for an hour and I noticed he looked at me from time to time, but most of the time he just looked around. He looked so lost sitting there staring at the jungle of clutter that was my attic/room. It made me wonder what he was thinking of sitting there like that with a compress on his cheek while chewing bread gingerly.

"Why are you doing this?" the question had come so sudden it surprised me and took a while to get what he was asking.

"Because I nearly knocked you into the hospital remember?" I answered before taking another bite of my bread. Looking at the junk and deciding to toss the last bit into it.

"Got a mouse living around here." I answered the boy's unasked question. The boy shook his head.

"I know you hit me, but why are you being nice to me? You don't even know my name." he asked looking at me now with a very confused look. He must've been thinking about that a lot.

"Because I saw something in your eyes just before I hit you and it made me realize you weren't lying when you said where you were from." I answered after long thinking about it. It had been a feeling that made me realize he was telling the truth but I couldn't tell him that.

Back to Zuko POV 

'Seen something?' I looked at the girl strangely.

'What had she seen then? Maybe my shock when I couldn't bend.' I sighed and looked at her a long time. I don't know why but something about her gave me the feeling I could trust her and that she'd believe me if I told her about my world. I'd decided that I must be in another world or something since from all I've encountered so far it's nothing like home.

"My name's Zuko." I said finally after what seemed like an eternity of thinking.

"Kimiko. So Zuko...how old are you?" Kimiko said resting her head on her fist while looking at me.

"Old enough...sixteen." I replied muttering my age when she looked at me in a 'want me to get the bat?' way. She smiled then and got up picking up our plates as she went.

"Me too." with that she went downstairs and stayed there for a while. When she got back she was holding a heap of stuff in her arms. She tossed it on the bed with me and told me to just pick something out to wear for now. Then she sat down and picked up a flat black box like thing of which she snapped the upper half up and then set the entire thing on her lap. I heard soft clicking noises come from the object and waited silently until she looked at me.

"Okay, facts. Neither of us know how you got in my attic/room but you're here so... Your name is Zuko you're 16. Got a last name?" she said looking at me.

"Huh eh I think not and what are you doing? What is that?" I asked confused.

"Okay no last name. I'm putting the facts of this situation on paper using my laptop. It allows me to write and correct my writing but when what I wrote is finished it's not as messy as writing by hand." she replied.

"Why?" I asked. She almost laughed but answered none the less.

"Because you have no place to stay at while here and no money to pay for said place to stay. Besides I don't even know how you got here let alone how to send you back and it would look rather suspicious if I suddenly had some guy staying over while my parents are not at home. I'm making a profile for you so I can enlist help from a friend who's good with...stuff like this he you enroled at my school for now. I told the principal you're my cousin. He thinks your files went missing my friends is 'recovering them for him'. Anyways I told him you're having a really bad jetlag though and got us four days off. Which means I have that much time to get you an Identity and get you up to speed with my world." Kimiko said. I didn't understand half of what she was talking about and apparently Kimiko noticed because she told me to forget it for now. She continued to 'write?' on the laptop. I just continued to watch her, it was hard to believe that she was as old as me because she was so small.

"Date of birth?" she asked.

"Eh, december nineteenth." I answered not bothering with our year count.

"Good at least we use the same time measurments as far as days, weeks and months go. You're sixteen then here you were born in 1984 like me. Cool, I'm ten days older!" Kimiko said continuing to write. I just stared at her blankly and decided it was best to just pretend I knew what she was talking about.

Kimiko POV 

I looked up once more from typing on my laptop and saw that Zuko wasn't understanding a thing I was talking about. So I closed the laptop and closed my eyes.

"Okay back to basics. Do you know how you got here?" I asked looking at him. Zuko thought about it long and hard.

"I remember being angry with...stuff and taking a walk. Then I suddenly woke up here in the dark and...eh...no." he said thoughtfully.

"Right, well neither do I. Do you have any money or a passport or ID card if you even know what that is?" I asked him calmly.

"Of course." Zuko said pulling money and a small decorated red card from the clothes he'd been wearing before along with a green card that was less decorated and handed it to me to see.

"Well it's money but not money you can use here. These passports won't work here either. Look, you'll need this here." I said pulling out my wallet and showing him my money and ID card.

"I...eh...I can't read this." he said confusedly before handing me back the money and the card.

"I'll teach you then. Okay now you have no idea of most of the things that are normal to me so I think we should start with you telling me about your home world so I can get an idea of what you're used to and show you what you don't know yet." I said calmly. Zuko looked at me and nodded. Then he proceeded to tell me all about his world starting with it's geography and he even drew a map of it.

Seven hours later 

"...so up until now I was staying there." Zuko concluded his story. I smiled and saved the 17 pages I'd written before getting up.

"Okay let's start with my house. First I'll show you around and if you want to know something or see something unfamiliar let me know and I'll tell you what it is and what it does." I said as I pulled him down the stairs.

"Okay let's start. My house like most houses here has an attic, a cellar and two floors. We're now on the second floor. Mostly you'll find bedrooms here and the shower. Well this is my 'parents's' room. Bed, closets and lamps." I said pointing each object out.

"How did you trap the fire in there?" Zuko asked me looking at it with a serious face.

"We didn't it doesn't work on fire, but electricity...like lightning. See that white box there with the two white wires in it?" I asked knowing electricity would be our first lesson today. Zuko nodded and inspected it closely. I chuckled and grabbed his hand stopping him from doing the stuppides thing you can do with a plug socket.

"That wouldn't be a good thing to do, unless you like getting shocked. Now in this world we figured out how to draw energy from wind, water and lightning and we made special devices that draw out that energy and converts it into electricity which is then going through a special wire into our houses. It goes up to the plug socket and into everything that you plug in and into our lamps. The lamps have a small wire in them too that gets really hot when the electricity goes through it and when it gets hot your lamp will make light." I explained as best I could. Zuko nodded that he understood me and we moved to the shower.

"Okay shower. Real easy watch closely. Water goes through a special machine that makes it clean and drinkable and then sends it through pipe lines into the houses. This is a was-bowl, it has a faucet and when you turn the red knob and wait you'll get hot water after a while and when you turn the blue one you'll get cold water. This is a bath-tub. Same basics red is hot, blue is cold. This here knob is only turned when you want to use the shower. The water then goes up and comes out here. Again red is hot, blue is cold. I take it you know what soap and shampoo is, but since you can't read the bottles yet, the yellow one is for your hair and the big white one is for your body." I said pointing everything out again and Zuko once again tried it out and smelled the soap and shampoo.

"So which was hot and which was cold again?" he asked me confusedly.

"Red knob makes the water come out hot, but it takes a while before the water is hot so don't get worried if it's not hot right away. Blue knob is cold water, very cold especially in winter." I said calmly knowing how confusing everything was for him. We ended up going through the entire house with me telling him what things were for and how they worked and Zuko trying almost everything out, but always looking at me to see if he could try it. The kitchen was the last and to me most fun to explain but it brought Zuko in a state of unhappiness.

"What's wrong?" I asked upon seeing his sad look when I demonstrated the kitchen-range.

"It's...I-I used to be able to light that with the mere flick of a finger, but here I can't do that." he said sadly. I realized that it must be frustrating for him to lose an ability that had come natural to him for years.

"I know it must be hard for you but here no one can bend elements." I said thoughtfully.

Zuko POV 

I looked at Kimiko who stood there thinking while turning the fire off. I was glad that out of all the people in this world I met Kimiko first. She'd been very patient and understanding all this time. She didn't yell at me or sigh in frustration when it took more then five tries for her to get me to understand. She reminded me of mother. She didn't get angry when I failed to do something or in this case understand it. I smiled at this thought. I wonder if all people here are like her.

"Hey you're smiling, good. Don't worry we'll figure it out. So ready for your first steps outside?" Kimiko said happily. I nodded and followed her to a small hallway. Kimiko handed me shoes and a coat and I put them on as she put her own on. I followed her out of the house and into the garden.

"Okay, how did you get to places?" Kimiko asked me. I tore my eyes away from the sights and sounds that entered the garden or were already in it and thought about it.

"Well we use boats on water and komodo-rhino's or ostrich-horses on land." I answered.

"Good that saves some explaining. I have no Idea what to think of with Komodo-rhino's but they sound like some kind of mix between two animals. We do have horses but we only ride those for fun." Kimiko said thinking hard which gave her that funny look again.

"Fun? But what do you use to get around then?" I asked her confusedly. Kimiko pointed at a strange two wheeled contraption that was leaning against a wall.

"It's called a bicycle. You sit on the sadle like this and put your feet on the pedals here and you use the steer here to maneuvre it. These are manual breaks very important to stop or slow down squeeze them at the same time when going very fast or one at the time when going slow, oh and watch this here bar it's not pleasant when you hit it getting off again. Watch." Kimiko said. She took the bicycle and got on it and put her feet on the pedals then she pushed one pedal down making the other go up and the bicycle started to move she used the steer turning it left or right to go in the same direction then she demonstrated how to stop by squeezing the breaks and she carefully got off.

"Can I try?" I asked. It looked interesting and simple enough. Kimiko nodded and handed it to me. I got on and copied what Kimiko had done, but it was a lot harder then it looked and almost immediately I nearly fell. Luckily I remembered how Kimiko had shown me how to catch myself before I fell and I put one leg out. The bicycle stopped instantly and I tried once more. Finally almost an hour later I managed to albeit somewhat shakily ride on it. I stopped and got off.

"I think I've tried enough now." I said handing the bicycle back. Kimiko put it against the wall and laughed.

"Not bad for a first time. It took me three years to learn how to ride it. Then again I was six when I learned. Anyways ready to learn the last and most important thing? Well for today anyways?" she asked laughingly.

"Sure." I said after all I'd seen so far what more could she have to show?

Kimiko pov 

"I think I've tried enough now." Zuko said handing the bicycle back. I put it against the wall and laughed.

"Not bad for a first time. It took me three years to learn how to ride it. Then again I was six when I learned. Anyways ready to learn the last and most important thing? Well for today anyways?" I asked laughingly.

"Sure." Zuko said. I smiled and grabbed his hand. Then I pulled him out of the garden toward the street. When we reached it a car drove by and Zuko jumped back and fell backward on his butt.

"WHAAAA!! W-what the hell was that!!!" he screamed staring with big eyes to the now empty road.

"That was a car." I answered calmly.

And that's where i'm leaving you! Review!!! 


	2. Chapter 2

**Edit: Okay I have no idea what fucked up my story and made it weird with all these funny signs but I've fixed it. It was fine a few weeks back and now I'm reading my stories over and find this chapter to be a friggin mess!**

**AU-ness ness ness ness. Just read it and let me know what you think...or leave now. Oh yeah the present time-line or our world time-line is in 2001 and the house we're in is styled after my own house. For the record my OC's character is based off of myself and a friend. The other OC who is a computer wizzkid is in reality my cousin and in case someone wonders everything else is made up.**

**PS: I'm going by the Dutch standards which say one can't drive a care legally under the age of 18 and without license. There's no permits or learner's permits or any classes to learn it at you get the books at home study take the theoretical exam and if you pass it you can take the practical exam. Five or more errors on the test means you fail═ and you can't do your practical driver's exam until you've taken the theoretical written exam and passed that one. (you Americans are lucky)**

**Warnings: some of the scenarios I'm using have truly happened. I should know they happened to me. Classmate tormenting is still a major problem in all school levels. It can go really far.**

**Disclaimer: Sadly enough I do not own avatar and I do not make any money off of this or any other story I wrote; if I did make money of it there would be at least ten new chapters uploaded each week, but since you don't see my stories finish with a month's time I do not make money off of it. I do own Kimiko and my other OC's isn't that wonderful? No? Oh well I think it is.**

**Summary: I smiled and grabbed his hand. Then I pulled him out of the garden toward the street. When we reached it a car drove by and Zuko jumped back and fell backward on his butt.**

**"WHAAAA!! W-what the hell was that!!!" he screamed staring with big eyes to the now empty road.**

**"That was a car." I answered calmly.**

**"speak"**

**'think'**

**/memory/**

**Chapter 2, shocking discovery**

_"I think I've tried enough now." Zuko said handing the bicycle back. I put it against the wall and laughed._

_"Not bad for a first time. It took me three years to learn how to ride it. Then again I was six when I learned. Anyways ready to learn the last and most important thing? Well for today anyways?" I asked laughingly._

"Sure." Zuko said. I smiled and grabbed his hand. Then I pulled him out of the garden toward the street. When we reached it a car drove by and Zuko jumped back and fell backward on his butt.

_"WHAAAA!! W-what the hell was that!!!" he screamed staring with big eyes to the now empty road._

_"That was a car." I answered calmly._

I watched laughingly as Zuko got up and glared at me. I chuckled softly. We continued to walk down the street toward the busstation.

"Sorry I should've told you first, but I wanted to see how you'd react. Cars are the most common means of transportation in this world along with busses...like that one." I said pointing at the bus that stopped in front of us. I got on and pulled Zuko along though he looked skeptical at the bus. Getting it I told the bus driver where we were going and that Zuko would go on my card and the driver stamped off the correct amount for us.(dunno how it is in the rest of the world but I'm keeping it simple for my own sake, lest I get a brain cramp in my empty head. LOL)

"How does it work?" he asked once we found a seat and the bus started moving.

"Well eh... Let's see...The engine to the boats in your world they run on cole right?" I asked. Zuko nodded.

"Okay, well here we've got something called gasoline, which powers the engine the gasoline is liquid and is pumped into the engine there it's ignited by a spark and the force released by the ignited gasoline makes the engine run and it makes the wheels move thus making the car or bus move and the driver has peddles by his feet one is for the breaks which make the car stop and the other controls the speed. Of course the steer is used to make turns." I explained as best I could. Zuko thought about what I said.

"Can...you show me?" he suddenly asked.

"What?" I asked him confusedly.

"How to drive one of these cars, like you did with the bike." he said seriously.

"Eh, no. First of all we're to young to drive, you must be 18 to drive and secondly you need a license to drive a car. That's a piece of paper which says you passed the driving test and proved you're can drive a car and keep to the traffic rules." I said smiling apologetically. Zuko once again got a thoughtful look before finally turning to me again.

"Your world is very confusing. There are to many rules here and you need papers for almost everything." Zuko said glaring out the window. I sighed inwardly showing Zuko my world was tiring.

"I know, it wasn't always like this though. Our world used to be very similar to yours. Only without bending. Now I need to go shopping for some stuff I take it you know what shops are and how they work. If there's anything you don't understand just ask." I said smiling as I watched the North sea as the bus crossed the bridge that connected our island to the mainland.

After about fifteen minutes of staring at the sea trying to work things out I felt the vibrations of my phone and pulled it out of my pocket.

"Hey Sai, hm, okay. Thanks man you're a life saver. Yeah he's here, we're going shopping now so I'll see you at seven tonight okay? Good thinking, will do see you tonight." I looked over at Zuko knowing I explained the concept of phones already but I hadn't told him about cellphones. He took my cellphone from me and looked at it.

"Hm, so this phone works without wires? How does it do that?" he finally asked after having examined it completely.

"Normally the signal goes through a wire but with cellphones it travels through the air. Don't ask how because We're not yet ready for outer space stuff like that. Sai suggested I take some books from the library to teach you any further. We've covered the important things that you needed to know for today." I said as I dragged him off the bus and through the shopping center.

3 hours later

"Ugh now I remember why I hate shopping so much." Zuko muttered as we walked back home from the bus stop. I sighed.

"Shopping sucks. If you think I'm a horror to go shopping with wait till you meet my friend Maigenn she's faaaaaaar worse then me." I said as I dragged home the bags with food clothes books and other necessities I'd be needing while Zuko stayed with me.

When we finally got home I put away the things we'd gotten at the store and told Zuko I was going to rearrange some stuff. I headed upstairs after Zuko sat down on the couch and went to watch the TV. After about three hours I'd finally arranged things so that I had a room for Zuko to stay in and I'd made the necessary calls to make everything work. Luckily my parents or rather surrogate parents actually called telling me that their business trip would take an extra three months and I managed to convince them that my long lost cousin was staying over at our place whom I hadn't seen since I was 3 and who came to visit from the USA and he's gonna go to my school while here. Okay not the best lie I ever told but it works so... and Sai always says if you have to lie then do it right. I could only hope that when my parents got back I'd have gotten Zuko back to his world or get him to play along. As I was just taking a last glance around to see if I'd missed anything I heard Zuko's startled scream. Worried about what he might have done I rushed down only to find him staring in the mirror in our hall and touching his face.

"What's wrong!? Why are you screaming!?" I asked confused surely they had mirrors in his world right?

"My-my face! I- the scar it's-I-" Zuko stuttered staring at his face still.

"Calm down I don't understand a thing you're saying." I said trying to figure out what he said.

"Back in my world I had a scar covering most of the left side of my face, from- but it's gone! How can that be!" Zuko said once again touching his face.

"I...don't know..." I said trying to think of an explanation while noting for later to ask him how he got the scar.

"This is impossible! Scars don't just vanish over night!" Zuko said disbelieving.

"Maybe... I once read a book about someone going to another world, though they could only go there through their dreams while holding an object from that world as they slept, but when they went to that other world... Well that boy in the story was very sick but in that other world he was not sick at all because his sickness wasn't from that world... or something like that. Maybe it's the same with your scar and your ability to bend fire." I said thoughtfully.

"I suppose so, it would explain some things." Zuko said looking at his reflection in the mirror still. He'd calmed down now and I think he was starting to get used to not having the scar he was talking about. I tried to picture him with a scar but gave up on doing so when Sai walked into the living room and called us over.

"So you're the guy that fell from the sky?" Sai asked smiling as he shook Zuko's hand.

"No I woke up in her room, I'm pretty sure I didn't fall from the sky though." Zuko said unsure.

"Stop teasing him Sai, so what did you pull off?" I asked sitting down with the boy.

"Let's see, here's all the paperwork for him and his ID and such stuff a fake grade list and basically everything you need for him to be your cousin from the USA." Sai said smiling as he handed me showed me the things on the computer and handed me those things I needed on paper.

3 days later

"Did you tell Maigenn? I mean everyone will believe you but Maigenn is your best friend and she knows you don't have a cousin from the USA and she's coming over now remember?" Sai said hanging lazily on the couch next to Zuko.

"Do I have to?" I asked moaning. I didn't want to tell Maigenn the truth she'd only make poor Zuko more miserable.

"Yes you do have to tell me. Hey Love." Maigenn said walking in and waving at Sai with a sweet smile before looking at Zuko who was sitting on the couch with the small mirror from our hall still looking at himself without scar like he did every morning these last 2 days. I bit back my whined 'I dun wanna' and smiled at my best friend.

"Hi Maigs! Well this is Zuko he's from another world he mysteriously appeared in my room and I'm giving him a place to stay here while John and Dana are out. If anyone else asks he's my cousin from the USA whom I haven't seen since we were three." I said rummaging through a desk in my living room.

"Okay. I can work with that...but why is he staring in that mirror?" Maigenn asked eying the boy like he was crazy.

"In his world he apparently had a scar on his face covering the left side of his face. He seems to have a hard time believing it's not there anymore. Hey Zuko? Can you write down your alphabet for me on this. One letter per line please." I said handing the boy a pen and some lined paper. Accepting the paper he nodded and wrote quietly for a while.

"What do you need it for?| he asked handing me the paper back when he was finished.

"I'm gonna teach you our alphabet so you can learn to read and write our language which you speak quite well so... here learn to read and write them. When you think you got it try and make words and such with it and try reading these. I'll check with you in a while to see if you're getting it" I said after put our alphabet next to his in the same order one letter per line.

It didn't take him long to get the hang of our writing and within two hours he was able to read the encyclopedias that belonged to my 'dad' in a steady voice like he was reading in his own language. Currently he was reading the books I brought from the library. I quietly watched him as he did so.

Sai had stolen Maigenn from me earlier and the two of them were in the guest room doing who knows what. They'd left me and my 'long lost cousin' alone. From time to time Zuko would point something out in his book and ask me about it and I would answer him, but for the last hour Zuko had only been sitting silently eyes glued to the book in his hands. The book explained the history of my world, it was a school history book that had all the important things from history in it.

I watched Zuko as he read quietly. He seemed quite interested in the history of my world sometimes he pointed out something in the book and told me they had them in his world or told me of their equivalent of said object. Slowly but surely as the time passed my eyes started to droop and soon the fuzzy darkness of sleep took over.

**Zuko POV**

Kimiko's alphabet was easy to learn and it didn't take long for me to get it. Kimiko noticed this and smiled as she handed me some books while asking me to read them out loud. She said they were books that the young children of her world learn to read in at their school. I nodded and read them most of them were simple stories like 'Mother made a cake. I like cake. I want to eat the cake. The cake is hot.' and so on. After reading them out loud Kimiko handed me a large book that was very heavy and asked me to read from it. I don't know why she asks this but don't question her and read. However it is Sai who stops me and says I'm ready to learn more. Kimiko nods and hands me the books she took with her from the library. She then tells me to read them for myself and ask if I don▓t understand. I finish several books quickly because it's the same as back home, however the biology and history books are very interesting. I see how many animals in my world are combinations of animals from this world. I like the history book best though there are so many things in it that I can ask Kimiko about. I like listening to Kimiko explaining things.

I feel something heavy leaning against my leg and look up from my book. It's late according to the clock on the wall it's almost midnight. I now see what the heavy thing against my leg is. Kimiko fell asleep while I read in the book and she fell asleep and must've fallen over in her sleep.

"Hey. Wake up, I'm not your pillow." I say nudging her softly.

"I'm up, I'm up!!" she says stretching and yawning before getting up.

"Whoa, almost midnight!? Okay time for bed." Kimiko said taking the book from my hands and turning off the lights. I smiled and followed Kimiko upstairs. Kimiko had told me that starting next Monday I'd attend her school but since it was only Friday I shouldn't worry about that just yet.

I sighed as I lay down on my bed. Adapting to this world was hard but Kimiko made it bearable. I wondered if I would ever return to my own world and if Azula and uncle would miss me... well uncle might not even know that I've gone missing.

'Uncle...I wish you were here. You'd know what to do... you always did. Or...would you feel lost like me? When...if I return you won't be there to ask me where I went.' I thought sadly and as I slowly fell asleep the image of him smiling at me whenever I returned to the ship comforted me some in this strange world.

**Another chapter done despite my writersblock!! Woohoo!!!**


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